Minister calls for Maria Miller to quit

MPs and public also turn on culture secretary

Pressure is mounting on culture secretary Maria Miller to resign over her expenses scandal as an unnamed minister, members of the 1922 Committee and the British public turn against her.

While Miller fights for her political life, a senior minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, tells the Sunday Telegraph: “In my view she has clearly behaved in a way that is incompatible with what she should be doing as a Cabinet minister.”

The minister adds: “The decision to keep her on undermines the Prime Minister because he has talked about a new kind of politics.”

In a poll for the Mail On Sunday, 78% of respondents said that Miller should lose her cabinet seat over her false expenses claim, with 66% saying she should also be sacked as an MP.

As Miller looks around desperately for support, The Observer claims that senior members of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee have said they expect her to be sacked from the Cabinet "to stop the barrage of criticism she is getting".

Speaking about Miller’s controversial 32-second apology earlier this week, one MP predicted she will lose her post the summer. The MP said: "I think it was very unwise to give the short, perfunctory apology she did. I suspect she may be sacked, demoted or moved in June."

Another unnamed minister says that Miller’s adviser, who raised the issue of press regulation while dealing with a journalist’s call over the expenses scandal, should also go.